A card terminal is the machine that takes a card at the point of sale. In the UK it is sold two ways: bought outright by the app based providers, or rented monthly by the bank owned acquirers and the resellers. Outright prices run from 11 to 179 pounds on published pages; rentals are printed by Elavon at 15 to 18 pounds a month per machine.
Rental versus outright, and what each hides
Rental spreads the hardware cost and usually buys a lower transaction rate, which is why Elavon prints 0.99% against a rented terminal and 1.75% against a five pound one. Outright costs more on day one and leaves you free to move. The question that decides it is how long you expect to stay, and the answer belongs in the contract term rather than in the price.
Countertop, portable and mobile
A countertop terminal is wired to power and network and sits by the till. A portable terminal runs on a battery over wifi and works across a room. A mobile terminal has its own SIM and works anywhere with coverage. Elavon prices the desk and the mobile version separately by rental, which is the cleanest published illustration of the price step between them.
Where a published price stops
Tyl by NatWest prints two rates below a stated annual card turnover and says on the same page that above it the price becomes custom. That threshold is the most honest published statement on this shelf about where transparency ends. Above it, and at every provider that publishes nothing, the only way to a number is a call with your turnover figures in hand.
Questions people ask about card terminal
Should I rent or buy a card terminal?
Buy if you expect to switch or if the rate is the same either way. Rent if the rental buys a materially lower percentage and your volume makes that worth more than the monthly fee. Work it out on your own takings; the crossover is specific to you.
What is the cheapest card terminal in the UK?
On printed hardware prices, Tide's Nano at 11 pounds plus VAT is the lowest in this index. On running cost, Lopay's 0.79% is the lowest published rate. The cheapest overall depends on your monthly card takings and rarely comes from one provider.
Do card terminals need a phone line?
Not any more. Current UK terminals use wifi, ethernet or a mobile SIM. Older analogue terminals that dialled out are being retired as the copper network is switched off, so a machine that needs a phone line is a machine near the end of its life.